


and small

by lalaietha



Series: Sunrise On White Trees [3]
Category: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 18:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalaietha/pseuds/lalaietha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Remember, I told you, there was a horse waiting on the beach?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	and small

Garth finds the horse on the homeward journey. 

Actually, Garth finds a lot of horses, because that's what he's been sent out to do: round up all the strays and stolens from the last battle of the new good Queen against the witch and bring them back to the castle. Because Her Majesty needs horses, and both the official census (such as it is) and the locals both make it very clear that nobody around here owns one who has a right to it, and the fewer Her Majesty has to buy, the easier it'll be on Tabor. 

Generally speaking Garth follows that thread of logic, and he himself is good at finding horses. Admittedly it used to be good at finding horses that weren't his and could be wandered off with to sell, but when the Royal Huntsman and a couple of dour faced friends dragged him in front of Her Majesty, Garth had found it remarkably easy to agree to put his skills to royal use. 

And the threat of being beaten to Hell's half-acre and back by said Huntsman, who happens to be a genuinely scary man, is only part of the motivation. Admittedly, it's a big part. Garth knew the man back when he was a drunkard and fought by mostly staggering around and ducking and he was bad enough then; now the man's dead sober and carries an axe everywhere. 

But it's only part, and the other part's the good Queen her own self. 

Her Majesty, Garth has decided, is like that. He saw the witch-queen once and she scared the life out of him; Her Majesty just makes you want to help her. She reminds you of your own dear daughter or sister or whatever the Hell you please, even if, like Garth, you don't actually have one and wander away wondering what in the Devil's name that feeling is, anyway. Y'fall in love with her, but it's that way, not the way of a wife or even a woman-of-the-night. 

Besides, the job comes with room and board and livery, as it were. And Royal protection, which is nothing to sneeze at. So he's found quite a few horses out here, but this one is _the_ horse, and he finds it on the way home. 

It's a glimpse of light against the drear. Every day is at least a little bit of drear: the sun spikes through in the morning, and then again at evening, and then fights a hard battle against fog the rest of the day. So something silver stands out, and then it's the whole string, all six damn nags suddenly acting like someone blew a trumpet at them if only for a second.

Garth spends a second or two trying to stay on the one he's riding, and when he has a chance to look again, the horse, _that_ horse, is limping up the track which for lack of anything better one has to call "the road". 

It's probably silver-white, but that's just Garth's best guess, because actually the thing's a thousand shades of mud and dried red-brown that's probably blood. It's also definitely limping, and limping directly at Garth. The other horses have settled back down again, but they're all acting like the white one's their mam or something. Or, rather - he takes a look - their da.

The stallion stops more or less right in front of him, and the thing looks at Garth sideways while Garth's horse busily uses its body to tell the stallion that the stallion is definitely the biggest best horse in the world, _no_ doubt there, and Garth's horse won't be giving him any trouble. It gives makes Garth's skin creep a little. He feels like it's waiting for something, and like the something it's waiting for is for Garth to use his head. 

Then again, it's not entirely daft. Some of the other horses just stood there while he walked up to them, after all: as Garth knows, horses look to humans for feed and shelter, and tame horses don't like being away from their two-legged companions. So maybe that's all it is. 

After a minute, Garth gives up and slides down off his horse and - since for once the thing's standing there like the world's most dull and docile pony - reaches for one of the halter's in his pack. The stallion whickers, which gets Garth's attention; the look the horse gives him is - well, unnerving, unsettling, and very clearly says that won't be necessary. 

Which, Garth feels he oughtn't to be so sure of what a God-damn horse is thinking or trying to tell him, not when the thing's just looking at him and breathing. Especially when it came out of the drear from nowhere and set all the other nags to worrying.

Garth's seen plenty of magic, first from the old witch-queen and then in the wild, hiding the edges of the Dark Forest and deeper in. He makes a sign against the evil eye, and the stallion just snorts at him. Garth makes a more complicated sign his granny taught him, and this time the stallion switches sides to stare at him, bedraggled fore-lock and all. It paws the ground lightly. 

Garth just about leads the whole string back away, more spooked than the horses; but then he thinks of Her Majesty and how she's supposed to have magic, too - magic that brought her back from the dead, even, and let her kill the witch-queen as no other could do (and Garth knows that, he's heard from men he trusts that they'd seen a man stab the evil thing right through the heart and have her pull out the dagger and laugh), so even if the thing is magic, maybe the thing he ought to do is take it back to the castle and let the Queen deal with it. 

The stallion whickers again, as if agreeing with his thoughts, and it occurs to Garth that the thing might well plague him even if he does try to run away from it. 

"Well," Garth mutters under his breath, "well right then, milord," and the address is only half mocking, "why don't you just follow us along - you're in bad shape anyway, I suppose it won't mean much if I lose you." 

The horse snorts at him, this time - he feels - a little contemptuously. 

"Well pardon me then," Garth growls at the horse, and then, for lack of anything better to do and wanting a roof over his head this coming night, he remounts his own horse and starts along. 

The stallion limps along beside him.

*****

It turns out that puppies are a lot more work than Lily thought they would be, but she doesn't mind. Eventually little Dun will be the best dog in all of Tabor, and Lily can wait and teach her and be very patient.

The servant Sal, whose job it is these days to follow Lily around everywhere, knows a lot about dogs anyway, and it gives something for Lily to talk to her about. Lily explained to Sal weeks ago that she doesn't need anyone to follow her around and help her, because her mother taught her properly and she knows how to do almost everything by herself. Sal explained back that because Lily's mother is very important now (as she should be, Lily feels), someone has to know where Lily is all the time, and the easiest way to do that is for Sal to follow Lily around. 

In the end, Lily decides not to argue, because Sal seems a little bit slow - like Helga back in the village - and following Lily around is probably not too hard. Besides, Sal is nice. And she knows about dogs. And she's easy enough to ignore if Lily feels like doing something Sal thinks she shouldn't. 

Like now. 

The best way to catch her mother and Snow White (who Lily carefully calls 'your Majesty' when other people are around, but always thinks of as just Snow White, like back in their village) is to wait until they move from one place to another - like from the privy council chambers, where they are now, to wherever it is that they're going next, which always changes. Trying to go and see them any other time tends to run into Greta, and Greta isn't impressed with Lily's explanations or her pleading eyes, but Lily can generally talk Sal into just following her to sit and wait. 

And she's going to show her mother and Snow White that she's taught Dun to sit. She's going to show them now, too, because they can take a moment right now, but if Lily tries to wait until the evening when everything's been done, she'll probably fall asleep without seeing either of them. Again. 

She understands. Mama explained it very well, about how this year is the most important in keeping the kingdom from falling apart, and Lily's got Sal and Dun anyway. But she's going to show off, just this once, whatever anyone says. 

While she waits, Lily gets Dun to sit a few more times, giving her bits of sausage when she gets it right. 

When Mama and Snow White emerge, they're still talking between them and one of the other lords who follows - not Duke Hammond, who Lily likes, but someone else she doesn't know. Most of what they say is beyond her; she catches bits and snatches of "No, absolutely not - " and "- the best course of action - " and "After harvest," but mostly Snow White looks like she's trying to walk away from the lord at any rate, without actually doing it and being impolite. 

Mama explained that, too. Queens always have to be polite, unless they decide to be rude on purpose. And that's a weapon queens have to use only when necessary. 

"Mama!" Lily announces, bouncing to her feet; her mother shoots her a warning look, but Snow White's face lights up and Lily sits on the impulse to stick out her tongue. Her mother hides a reluctant smile anyway, and Dun jumps up and barks little barks, jumping around. 

Sal gets up and curtseys while Lily frowns at her puppy. "No!" she says, sharply, and holds out her hand to block Dun like Sal showed her; Dun sort of stutters in her jump and then when Lily says, "Sit!" Dun sits down right away, looking shamefaced. 

The stranger-lord is hiding a smile, too, as Lily beams at Snow White and says, "Look, your Majesty! I trained her to listen!" Then she adds, "Sal helped," because that's only fair. 

"If only small girls were so easy to teach," Mama says dryly, but she is still hiding a smile, and Lily will explain later. Snow White has bent down, her skirts going out all around her, and she's smiling as Dun sniffs and then licks her fingers. 

"You're amazing," she says, touching Lily's face lightly. Then she rubs behind Dun's ears as Dun wags her tail in a kind of excited happiness. She looks kind of wistful, but happy, and it strikes Lily that Snow White should have a dog. Or maybe a cat would be better, because Snow White wouldn't have any time to teach a dog properly. Something she could cuddle up with and would be happy to see her, at any rate. 

Lily wonders who she should suggest that to. 

"Well done, my love," says Mama, with a slightly warning look to her face as she goes on, "but now it's time you took yourself and Dun to your dancing lesson, I think." And she nods at Sal, who takes Lily's hand. 

"Yes, my lady mother," Lily says, showing her best obedience and the formal way she's to talk to her mother in public. Snow White stands up and the happy look is draining out of her face. 

One of the pages comes from the door at the bottom of the stairs, stops when he sees Snow White and then bows deeply. "Majesty," he says, and he sounds a little excited, so Lily cranes her neck. 

"Yes?" Snow White says, her face in that calm and kind look she uses for almost everyone except Lily's mother, milord William, the huntsman and Greta; the page bows again. His name, Lily thinks, is maybe Rolf. Or maybe it's Ned. It's hard to remember the page's names, they all wear the same clothes. 

"Your Majesty asked to know when the horseman Garth arrived back," the page said, "and one of the lookouts has spotted him a ways off on the road; he says if it please your Majesty, he should be here in about three quarters of the hour." 

"Thank you," Snow White says, and the page almost falls over this time when he bows and then flees. 

Lily thinks she hears Snow White murmur something about _one_ good thing happening today, when Mama gives Lily a sharp look and Sal pulls her aside to let Snow White, Mama and the stranger-lord by and then pulls her towards lessons.

*****

Dancing lessons end when Lily hears the commotion of passwords and answers and the gates opening; she hears the thin old man who is the dancing-master sigh as she darts out, Dun in her arms and barking and Sal coming behind her with a call, but Lily wants to _see_ the horses coming back.

The night the village burned had been the first time she'd ever seen a horse, and they're still strange and wonderful to her, because there aren't that many of them. This is only the first time the horseman named Garth has gone out, of course, and he can only bring so many on his own, and Snow White doesn't want to send groups of men out. Sal says the queen doesn't want to frighten the people, given Ravenna's tax-bands; Lily doesn't tell this to Sal, but she thinks part of the reason is that Snow White doesn't trust a group of men not to act just like that if she lets them out of her sight. 

It's been a long time since things were good in Tabor, and Lily knows well enough that hard times often don't make good people. 

Lily stops herself on the steps before she runs out into the yard, remembering that she has good shoes on and the ground is covered in muck; she goes down as far as the bottom steps and then cranes to see. 

It looks like there are at least ten horses, and that's good; most of them are brown or spotted or dark, but one's silver, _very_ dirty, and limping. Lily has just enough time to see that, and then to see Snow White come to the open central doors, before she hears Snow White cry, "oh, my God!" 

That makes everyone turn to look; Snow White stands on the stones for a moment, one hand at her mouth, staring at the horse and for that moment, nobody breathes. 

And Lily thinks she sees Snow White's eyes sparkle, like they're wet now. 

Then Snow White grabs up the skirts of her gown enough to run, and she doesn't pay any attention at _all_ to the muck on the ground as she throws herself across the space and then throws her arms around the neck of the dirty silver horse. 

The horseman Garth startles out of the way; a few of the other horses snort and dance back as much as they can. But the silver-white horse just tenses its neck a little bit and then makes a soft kind of blowing sound Lily doesn't know the word for. Then it ducks its head and noses at Snow White's hair. 

Lily looks at her mother, who mostly just looks surprised. The stranger-lord, who's also there, looks bewildered, and the horseman looks startled, and everyone else looks wary and confused. Snow White's stroking the silver horse's mane and whispering at it. 

After a moment, Lily makes a decision; she puts Dun down, lifts up _her_ skirts and very carefully steps around all of the muck, picking her way across to Snow White and the horse. She doesn't get too close too quickly - everything anyone has told her about horses says not to startle them, and she supposes just because the horse thinks it's fine that Snow White should run at it doesn't mean it will think the same of Lily - and makes sure it can see her, but the horse doesn't pay her any attention. 

When Lily gets close enough, Snow White glances at her and then lets go, stroking a hand down its neck. "It's my horse," she says, a little quietly, but way of explanation. The smile on her face is very complicated, and if it's a tiny bit embarrassed Lily doesn't think Snow White really cares. "Remember, I told you, there was a horse waiting on the beach?" Snow White strokes its nose, and the horse noses at her head again. "It was this one." 

" _Oh_ ," says Lily, a little open-mouthed, staring at the dirty thing with a bit more awe and understanding, she thinks, everything. The horse waiting on the beach where the magpies had led Snow White and carried her away, let her escape; the horse that let her ride without bridle or saddle and that she lost at the edge of the Dark Forest. 

No wonder Snow White seems so happy. Lily holds up her hand very carefully flat for the horse to sniff; it does, but then it noses Snow White's shoulder one more time. 

Snow White takes a step back, wiping at her eye with one wrist - but her face falls, fills with concern. "Oh God," she says, "he's hurt - Darman!" she turns, her voice suddenly loud enough to make Lily jump. " _Darman!_ " 

Someone's already called the Master of the Stables. Lily likes him; he's not a very tall man, but he's solid and his beard is bushy, and he's one of the few men who worked under Ravenna that Snow White kept. Mostly because horses don't care about who sits on the throne, and Master Darman cares almost only about horses. 

"Majesty," he says, and then his eyes seem to catch up and he sees the horses and then _the_ horse, and he curses under his breath with words Lily isn't supposed to know. "Where in Hell has this one come from?" He sounds almost reverential, like a man in a cathedral. 

"We may never know," Snow White says, and her voice sounds richer than it did this morning, less tired and sad, "but he's mine, Master Darman, and I need you to help me see to him." 

The front of her dress has sand, some mud and something red smeared on it, Lily says, but she doesn't think Snow White cares. Master Darman looks a little surprised, but mostly he looks the horse over, muttering to himself already.

"Milord Edry will have to excuse me," Snow White goes on, smiling briefly at the very confused looking stranger-lord, using that voice that means she's being polite but nobody should think of arguing with her, "until later in the evening." 

"Ah," says the stranger-lord, apparently Edry, as if he's not quite keeping up, "of course, your Majesty. At your pleasure." And he bows, mostly - Lily thinks - to cover his confusion. 

Snow White smiles at him again, and now out of the corner of her eye Lily catches sight of the huntsman stomping out from one of the side doors and making a straight-line towards Snow White as she walks with the Master of the Stables towards his domain. 

Mama's eyebrows are up near the cloth covering her hair; when she catches sight of Lily, though, she gives a sharp little cant of her head which says Lily is to come stand beside her, immediately, and without arguing. Lily obeys immediately, and sees Sal come down from the stairs and slink to near Lily's mother. She has Dun in her arms; Lily decides not to take the puppy, because her paws are almost certainly filthy. 

At her mother's side, Lily watches Snow White walk with the horse, and the smile Snow White turns on the Royal huntsman when he reaches her, frowning in confusion. Lily reaches up to hold her mother's hand and leans against her.


End file.
